Hornets romp

April 3, 2013

Hornets first baseman Ty Harris attempts to catch a foul by the fence in a game earlier in the season. Harris went 1 for 2 with two walks and two runs in Bryant’s 11-1 win over Texarkana on Tuesday.
TONY LENAHAN/The Saline Courier

TEXARKANA – The Bryant Hornets were the recipients of 13 walks and five errors in an 11-1 win over the Texarkana Razorbacks in 7A/6A South conference play on Tuesday in Texarkana. With the 13 walks, the Hornets banged out 13 hits as well.
“They helped us out,” Bryant Coach Kirk Bock said of Texarkana. “They walked 13 of us and they booted five balls. They helped us out a lot.”
Every player in the Hornets’ lineup had at least one hit, with four players getting two hits.
The Hornets started the scoring in the top of the second inning when sophomore Ty Harris and senior Hayden Daniel singled to start the inning. With runners at first and third, sophomore Brandan Warner scored Harris with a sacrifice fly. Daniel stole second base, went to third on the sac fly and scored on a passed ball before senior Marcus Wilson had a bases loaded walk to make it 3-0 Hornets.
“The top four or five people got to the dish six times,” Bock said. “You keep putting bullets in your gun, you’re going to hit your mark every now and then.”
Harris would score again, this time on senior Hayden Lessenberry’s sacrifice fly in the top of the third before Texarkana would pick up a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1 after three. It would stay that way until Bryant (16-5, 4-1 South) scored three in the fifth and two each in the sixth and seventh innings.
Sophomore Jason Hastings started for the Hornets and got the win pitching six innings. Hastings gave up an unearned run on four hits and three walks, and struck out eight.
“He did well,” Bock said. “He had one shaky inning right there, but really that was a misplayed ball in the outfield which cost us a run. Other than that it went well. He threw a lot of pitches. Had a lot of 2-2 counts.”
Wilson went 2 for 3 with four RBI, junior Trevor Ezell went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Warner went 2 for 4 with two RBI, and Daniel went 2 for 5 and scored twice. Junior Korey Thompson went 1 for 1, and walked and scored three times.
Up next for the Hornets will be the Lake Hamilton Wolves on Friday at Hornets Field. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
“Lake Hamilton is always solid,” Bock said. “It’s one of the schools we played in nonconference the last five years. We’ve probably split out. Even when they don’t have a lot of talent, they always play hard.”